Sweet (horrific) Love
by Arianna Waters
Summary: Tom hates love and pushes it away. Ginny embraces love and fears that it is lost.


**Sweet (horrific) Love**

 _Sight came first. Unable to control his host at the moment, even the soft, yellow glow left him momentarily blinded. The sense cleared, bit by bit, and having spent decades trapped in a lifeless object, the ability to see felt like a gift, even through other's eyes._

 _Sound followed next. Being able to see people around, unable to hear them, had been disorienting. The first time he could hear, he considered the noise as an assault to his newly re-found sense — his host lived in a family with no sense of decorum. He nonetheless welcomed the ability to hear._

 _Gradually, the other senses trickled in — he could taste the food, he could feel the coarse sheets that were so different from what he remembered from his time in the Slytherin dorms._

 _At last, the ability to feel the emotions trickled in, and Tom was struck with a sickening emotion that seemed to burn him. It was stifling, the emotion that rose above all others, and there was nothing Tom could do to stop it._

 _He would learn to suppress that, Tom decided. He had to._

* * *

Light falls on her eyes, taking away the blissful darkness, and Ginny stirs. The curtains are charmed to open at 9 a.m., and Ginny knows she should get up, but it feels too early.

Somewhere from below, she hears someone — her mother, maybe — screech about not being a House-elf and something about no one having a sense of grati-something. For some reason, a feeling rises inside of her that she can't really place.

Ginny rubs her eyes and pulls herself out of the bed. By the time she stands, stretching, the noise is gone, and so is the strange feeling.

Belatedly, Ginny realises that her mum doesn't screech. The woman yells, sometimes, mostly at the twins. And Ginny doesn't even know where the thing about House-elf came from.

The young girl shrugs. The house is silent now, and the weird feeling spikes again, settling in her gut. Ginny shakes her head, and picking up her clothes, she leaves the room with an intention of taking a bath. The boys, with an exception of Percy, are most likely still sleeping, but not for long, and she would rather not wait at the bathroom door, fighting for her turn.

If she's lucky, she may even get more than five minutes in the tub.

* * *

 _The twins were making fun of her — his host, he corrected — and he could feel the annoyance in the child. But there was the emotion, too, again. The one that sickened him to core — the one Tom hated the most, and though he did not admit to even himself, feared, for he could not understand it._

 _He was unable to do much, not yet, but he pushed anger in the girl's subconscious until she snapped at them and turned away._

* * *

Ginny pauses outside Fred and George's room when she hears them yelling at each other.

The twins _never_ fight. They are also never up at this time in the morning in holidays.

There are some choice words being exchanged, and she thinks she hears George say, "I hate you!" The emotion that has been trying to get her in a hold since morning comes up again, and Ginny realises it is fear. She fears Tom's affect on her has led to everyone behaving this way.

Ginny shakes herself out of it and walks on. The breakfast table is empty, and the toast she finds left-over is slightly burnt, but she doesn't think much of it.

* * *

" _Don't tell anyone, please," Percy said. "I just — the twins will make fun."_

 _He felt the sickening feeling rising inside of his host's head, and Tom pushed it down. He was pleased to notice it didn't take as much of an effort, this time._

 _He made the girl sneer at the red-haired boy. "Go away, Percy. I don't care about you or your stupid little girlfriend!"_

* * *

Ginny makes her way to Percy's room to look at the books. She knows Percy has a good collection of wizard fiction, bought with the little money he makes working odd-jobs at Diagon Alley, and she is the only person he trusts enough to lend books to.

Looking at the shelf, she runs her fingers over the spines of the books — they are all read, but well-preserved. Percy certainly knows how to care for his books. Ginny reads the titles, mulling over what book to read, when a sound of outrage makes her jump. Ginny turns.

It is Percy.

"What in the name of Merlin are you doing here?" He seems angry, and Ginny can't imagine why.

"I was looking for a book to read."

"They're mine," Percy snaps, "and I don't want you anywhere near them. Get out of my room!"

Staring at her brother in horror, Ginny walks over to the door. He never talks to her like that. Ron, yes. Fred and George, always. But she is his little sister, and he loves her, and —

What has gotten into everyone, today? Ginny feels that fear rise inside of her again, but she shakes her head. She's simply overthinking.

* * *

 _The fang in the boy's hand pierced the diary, and the suffocating emotion he had worked so hard to keep at bay came back in full force. Tom hasn't felt anything more frightening in his life._

 _Before long, a scream tore from his mouth. The horrific feeling was unrelenting. It burned Tom's insides, and it kept on increasing until he knew no more._

* * *

The fear that has held her in grip all day doesn't loosen its hold as the minutes trickle by, yet the only sound at the lunch table is that of the silver clanking. Ginny can't shake off the sense of wrongness, particularly as she observes her mother eating with gusto, Ron's absence from the table unnoticed.

Her youngest older brother chooses that moment to storm in, and Ginny starts as he thumps his hands on the table, right across from her.

"Why didn't you die that day?" Ginny blinks. Surely she must have heard wrong. Yet, Ron continues on his tirade, spittle flying from his mouth. "Dad has won the draw from the Daily Prophet yet I cannot take Harry along!" He strikes the table with his fist. "Just—" _thump!_ "—because—" _thump!_ "—of—" _thump!_ "—you!" With a last strike, he backs away from the table, staring at her in disgust, and Ginny stares at him, white-faced.

"You set a monster on the school, and he saved you, yet it is you who'll go to Egypt because we have enough gold for only seven people and you are _family_!"

It is then that Ginny notices the silence. She looks at Fred and George, who are mimicking shooting her, at Percy, who is scowling at her, and at her parents, who look at her with cold eyes. She looks from one person to the next, yet their expressions remain unchanged.

Dread grows inside of her, chilling her to core. Surely—

They _love_ her.

Even as Ginny thinks this, she feels uncertain, the whispers of that snake-like voice that have been absent for days growing loud once more.

' _No one loves you!'_

' _You're weak, pathetic, a girl in a family of six boys!'_

' _You are worthless!'_

They grow louder, the insults coming out quicker each passing second and drowning out anything her family is saying, until they are all she can hear, repeated over and over like a broken record.

Ginny closes her eyes, letting the noise, and the terror of hate from her family drown her into nothingness.

A voice breaks through after what seems like forever. "Ginny!" It is soft, yet the girl knows the person must have repeated her name a dozen times now. "Wake up, baby girl!"

Ginny keeps her eyes firmly shut, not wanting to see the expressions of disgust and hate on any of her family's face.

The person is persistent, though, and soon Ginny finds herself staring in the eyes of her eldest brother — eyes that are filled with so much love that Ginny finds a dam within her breaking. She flings herself in his arms, willing to never let go.

* * *

 **1378 words**

 **Written for QLFC by Beater 2 of Falmouth Falcons**

 **Prompts:** (song) Love is all around — wet wet wet

 **Optional:** (emotion) fear, (word) horror


End file.
